24 years Journey of Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton

Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton is born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire 1985 January 7 .He is a British F1 racing driver from England, Now racing for the McLaren Mercedes F1 team and is the youngest ever Formula One World Champion. He was named after American sprinter Carl Lewis.In 1995, Hamilton approached McLaren F1 team Principal Ron Dennis at the 1995 Autosport Awards ceremony and told him, I want to race for you one day. Under three years later, McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to their Young Driver Support Programme signed him. He is Coming from a mixed family conditions, with a black father and white mother, Hamilton is often labelled “The first black driver in F1.”Earlier lifeLewis mother, Carmen Lockhart is white British, even as his paternal grandparents emigrated from Grenada to the UK in the 1950s, his grandfather Oliver Hamilton working on the London Underground. Hamilton’s parents on bad terms when he was two and he lived with his mother and half-sisters Nicola and Samantha until the age of 12, when he ongoing living with his father, stepmother Linda and half-brother Nicholas who has cerebral palsy.Lewis 1st experience of racing competition came at the controls of radio-controlled cars. His father, Anthony, bought him one in 1991, and Hamilton finished second in the national British Radio Car Association (BRCA) championship the subsequent year. Hamilton said of the time: “I was racing these remote-controlled cars and winning club championships against adults”. That led to Lewis sampling kart racing for the 1st time when, aged six, his father buy him his first go-kart as a Christmas Gift telling him that he would carry his racing career as long as he worked hard at school.

In Karting

Lewis Hamilton began Karting in 1993 at the age of eight, at the Rye House Kart Circuit and speedily began winning races and Cadet class championships. At the age of 10 he approached McLaren F1 team boss Ron Dennis for an autograph, and told him, “Hi. I’m Lewis Hamilton. I won the British Championship and one day I want to be racing your cars.” Dennis wrote in his autograph book, “Phone me in nine years, we’ll sort something out then.”

Lewis continuous his improvement in the Intercontinental A (1999), Formula A (2000) and Formula Super A (2001) ranks, and became European Champion in 2000 with highest points. In Formula A and Formula Super A, racing for TeamMBM.com, his teammate was Nico Rosberg who would later drive for the Williams team in F1. Subsequent his karting successes the British Racing Drivers’ Club made him a ‘Rising Star’ Member in 2000.

In Formula Three

Lewis began his car racing career in the 2001 British Formula Renault Winter Series. Regardless of crashing on his third lap in the car in testing, he completed fifth overall in the winter series. This led to a full 2002 Formula Renault UK movement with Manor Motorsport team. Hamilton finished third on the whole with three wins and three pole positions. He remained with Manor for another year and won the championship with ten wins and 419 points to the two wins and 377 points of his nearest rival, Alex Lloyd. Having clinched the championship, Hamilton missed the last 2 races of the season to make his debut in the season finale of the British Formula Three Championship. Here he was less successful: in the first race, he was compulsory out with a puncture, and in the second he crashed out and was taken to hospital after a collision with his team-mate Tor Graves. He did show his speed at both the Macau Grand Prix and Korea Super Prix, in the latter he qualified on pole position in his first visit to the track and in only his fourth F3 race.

On the start of 2004, Hamilton and McLaren had a quarrel, which resulted in McLaren provisionally dropping him. Finally, he was re-signed with McLaren, and made his entrance with Manor in the 2004 Formula Three Euro series. They won one race and Hamilton ended the year fifth in the championship. He also won the Bahrain F3 Supergrandprix and raced one of the Macau F3 Grand Prix. Lewis first tested for McLaren in late 2004 at Silverstone.

GP2

Outstanding to his success in Formula 3, he stimulated to ASM’s sister GP2 team ART Grand Prix for 2006. Hamilton won the GP2 championship at his first attempt, beating Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Timo Glock. His distinguished performances built-in a dominant win at the Nürburgring, despite serving a penalty for speeding in the pit lane. At his home race at Silverstone, supporting the British GP, Hamilton remarkably overtook two rivals at Beckets, a series of high-speed (up to 150 mph in a GP2 car) bends where overtaking is unusual. He confirmed his overtaking prowess again in Istanbul, when he improved from a spin that left him in 18th place to take second position in the final corners. He won the title in unusual circumstances, inheriting the final point he needed after Giorgio Pantano was exposed of fastest lap in the Monza characteristic race. In the sprint race, though he finished second with Piquet sixth, he finished twelve points clear of his rival.

In 2006 GP2 championship coincided with a position at McLaren subsequent the exit of Juan Pablo Montoya to NASCAR and Kimi Räikkönen to Ferrari. After months of rumor on whether Hamilton, Pedro de la Rosa or Gary Paffett would be paired with defensive champion Fernando Alonso for 2007, Hamilton was established as the team’s second driver.Formula One Profession

In 2007 season

It was published before the start of the season that Hamilton would be collaborating shielding double World Champion Fernando Alonso who had joined McLaren after exit Renault.

On his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, he qualified fourth and complete third in the race, flattering the thirteenth driver to finish on the podium in his first F1 career race.

In Bahrain, Hamilton get his first front-row start, qualifying and finishing second following Felipe Massa. Hamilton again finished second behind Massa in the Spanish Grand Prix, to take the lead in the drivers championship.

Hamilton completed second following Alonso at Monaco and afterwards optional he was prohibited from racing his teammate. The FIA cleared McLaren following an investigation.

Hamilton had both his first pole position and first victory of his F1 career in the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal. He led for most of the race even after the safety car was deployed four times increasing the chances of him being overtaken.

A week later Hamilton won the United States Grand Prix, also from pole position, becoming the first Briton since John Watson in 1983 to win an F1 race in the US, and only the second person, after Jacques Villeneuve, to win more than one race in his rookie Formula One season since the first year of the Championship.

By finishing third at Magny-Cours behind Ferrari drivers Kimi Räikkönen and Felipe Massa, Hamilton extended his lead in the Driver’s Championship to 14 points. This was the first time in his F1 career he finished a race in a lower position than he started, and the first time he had been passed on the race track in Formula One.

During qualifying for the European Grand Prix, Hamilton crashed at the Schumacher chicane after a trouble with the wheel nut caused by the air gun used on his car. He was taken to the circuit’s medical centre on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and drip, but was conscious throughout. He was unable to complete qualifying and his existing laptime was surpassed by all other competitors during Q3, thus he qualified in tenth position. After a final medical check on Sunday morning, Hamilton was cleared to race. During a heavy rainstorm which caused the race to be red-flagged Hamilton slid off into a gravel trap, however as he kept his engine running he was lifted back on to the circuit and able to rejoin the race after the restart.

Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position following a controversial qualifying session. Alonso had set the fastest time, but was relegated five places down the grid to sixth for preventing Hamilton to leave the pit lane in time to complete his final qualifying lap. Kimi Räikkönen stayed within five seconds of Hamilton for the entire race . McLaren were docked any constructor’s points earned during the race due to the incident in qualifying.

After declaring he had restored his relationship with Alonso, Hamilton qualified second in Turkey. After dropping to third at the first corner, Hamilton looked set for a podium finish with 15 laps remaining, but a right-front tyre puncture forced him to crawl back to the pits, leaving him to finish fifth meaning his championship lead was cut once more.

Alonso beat Hamilton in the Italian and Belgian Grands Prix, leaving the Briton with a two-point lead in the title race. However he extended his lead to 12 points after winning the Japanese Grand Prix in heavy rain after Alonso crashed. Following the race Hamilton was investigated by the race stewards over his involvement in an incident behind the safety car.

After securing pole position in China, which saw changeable weather conditions, Hamilton retired from the race. He experienced considerable tyre wear, notably his right rear, and he ran wide into the gravel trap in the pitlane where his car beached. This was Hamilton’s first retirement of his Formula One career.

In the Brazilian Grand Prix he failed to finish in a championship-winning position, finishing the race in seventh overall after being in eighteenth place at his worst point of the race. The drop to eighteenth occurred due to two incidents. In the first he was passed by Räikkönen away from the line before being boxed in by Massa and Räikkönen into the first corner, and ‘wrong-footed’ by Räikkönen mid-corner,[50] Hamilton was passed by Alonso in Turn 3. Hamilton attempted to re-pass Alonso in turn four, but ran wide, dropping four places to eighth. The second problem started on lap 9 when Hamilton encountered a gearbox problem.

In 2008 season

Hamilton on the podium of the first race of 2008 in Melbourne

On December 14, 2007, it was confirmed that Heikki Kovalainen who drove for Renault in 2007 would drive the second car for McLaren-Mercedes for the 2008 Formula One season alongside Hamilton. In January 2008, Hamilton signed a new five-year multi-million pound contract to stay with McLaren-Mercedes until the end of the 2012 season.

Hamilton won the first race of the 2008 season, the Australian Grand Prix, having qualified on pole.

In the second race of the season, the Malaysian Grand Prix, he finished fifth .

He was back on the podium at the Spanish Grand Prix finishing third from fifth on the grid. Hamilton finished second .

In the Turkish Grand Prix on Sunday May 11, 2008. He said that this was his best race he had ever competed in. Two weeks later, he won the Monaco Grand Prix putting him in the lead of the championship.

In the next race at Hockenheim, Hamilton started from pole position, building up an 11 second lead over second-placed Felipe Massa early in the race. After stopping and re-emerging in the lead, McLaren then decided to keep Hamilton out on-track when the safety car was deployed mid-way through the race. When Hamilton finally pitted, he came out in fifth place, jumping to third after his team-mate let him by and Nick Heidfeld pitted. He then overtook Massa and Nelson Piquet, Jr. for the lead, eventually winning by 9 seconds.

Hamilton was penalized at the 2008 Belgian Grand Prix for passing Kimi Räikkönen after cutting the previous corner.

At the Japanese Grand Prix Hamilton took pole in qualifying. His closest rival for the Championship title, Felipe Massa, could only manage to qualify fifth. Hamilton moved down the inside before the first corner, out-braking himself and running wide. This forced some of the drivers behind him to go off the track, including the cars of Räikkönen and Heikki Kovalainen, for which Hamilton was given a drive-through penalty

A second incident followed soon afterwards, on the second lap, when Hamilton attempted to pass Massa into the chicane at turn 10. Hamilton pulled alongside the Ferrari and as Massa ran wide to avoid a car ahead, Hamilton made a move to pass him. Massa was pushed off the track by Hamilton’s man oeuvre and crossed the grass, returning to the track at the second bend of the chicane, pushing the McLaren into a spin. Massa was later given a drive-through penalty for this move. Hamilton, who had been in sixth place behind Massa, dropped down to last place but managed to regain some places and managed to finish the race in 12th position.

In the 2008 Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton was much faster than all the other cars in the practice sessions, and in qualifying he did well again, qualifying on pole position. He went on to win the race from Felipe Massa and Kimi Räikkönen, taking a 7 point lead in the World Championship into the last race of the season. Speaking afterwards, Hamilton said ‘All weekend we have had God on our side as always, and the team did a phenomenal job in preparing the car, which has been a dream to drive.

Hamilton wanted to finish at least fifth in the 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix to secure the World Championship. After a hard fought race Lewis was in fifth but, after rain, and in the closing laps of the race, Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Toro Rosso took the fifth position away from Hamilton. Had the race ended then, this would have given the driver’s title to Massa.

On the last lap of the race first Vettel and then Hamilton managed to pass Timo Glock of Toyota, after Glock (unlike Hamilton) had risked staying on the track with dry-weather tyres, despite the rain.This moved Hamilton back up to fifth, ensuring that he finished one point ahead of Massa overall and winning the 2008 title. Hamilton’s overtaking move happened after Massa had crossed the line to become the driver to have won the most races in 2008. This meant that Hamilton had clinched the 2008 Formula One World Championship, becoming the youngest driver to win the title, as well as the first black driver. He is also the first British driver to win the World Championship since Damon Hill triumphed in 1996.

In 2009 season

After winning the championship in the previous Formula One season, Hamilton set out to defend his title in 2009.

A year after winning the 2008 Australian Grand Prix from pole position, Hamilton opened his 2009 season from the second to last row of the grid. After a gearbox problem in first stage of qualifying for the 2009 Australian Grand Prix.

McLaren decided to replace the gearbox resulting in a penalty that moved Hamilton to the back of the grid. Hamilton was then moved up into 18th place. After starting the race in 18th place, Hamilton moved up the pack throughout the race. After the midway point, Hamilton looked to have a decent chance to finish in the points. After making a few key passes late, Hamilton benefited from a late crash between Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica and was vaulted up into 4th place where he originally finished the race. He was then promoted to third after Jarno Trulli was penalized for overtaking Hamilton under safety-car conditions. Hamilton was then disqualified for providing “misleading evidence” during the stewards’ hearing.

In the second race of the season, the Malaysian Grand Prix, he finished seventh after heavy rain ended the race after just 33 laps at Sepang.

Hamilton qualified ninth for the wet Chinese Grand Prix, during which he was able to pass several cars throughout the race, only to lose places with spins that he put down to aquaplaning on worn tyres. One such spin let his team-mate Kovalainen past, but Hamilton did benefit late in the race from Adrian Sutil crashing out while sixth, the position Hamilton filled at the finish.

The fourth race of the 2009 Formula One season was the Bahrain Grand Prix. After starting from fifth on the grid, Hamilton progressed backwards and forwards throughout the race before finally finishing in fourth position,

In Monaco after some setting the fastest first sector, crashed in Q1 and finished 12th in the race.

In Turkey, he was again out in Q1 when his teammate went into Q2. In the race Lewis didn’t make much progress and finished a lowly 13t.

In 2009 German Grand Prix when he qualified fifth, but a puncture on the first lap caused by a collision with Mark Webber’s race winning Red Bull RB5 car sent him down to 19th as the -McLaren limped back to the pits damaging the floor and under tray. With the car damaged and aero benefits lost he finished 18th, last and the only driver in the race lapped.

The 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. After a KERS-assisted start from 4th that saw him second by turn 1, Mark Webber briefly leapfrogged him and he was down to third by turn 2. On lap 5 he retook the position, and subsequent Alonso’s retirement on lap 13, Hamilton led for the remainder of the race to finish 11.529s in front of Kimi Raikkonen, and take his 10th career win – the first for a KERS-equipped car.

Hamilton’s newly found return to form continued at the 2009 European Grand Prix, where he qualified on pole position for the first time in the season, heading a McLaren one-two with team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, because of a poor pit stop by the mechanics Lewis lost first position but finished a steady second to finish the weekend in style.

In Belgian win the next race however, as his race ended prematurely, when he, along with Jenson Button, Jaime Alguersuari, and Romain Grosjean crashed out on the opening lap.

At the 2009 Italian Grand Prix Hamilton started from pole but crashed out of third place on the last lap when chasing Jenson Button for second.

In September, Hamilton won at the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix for his second win of the 2009 season.

In Japan, he started third behind Sebastian Vettel and Jarno Trulli, where after passing Trulli at the start, he maintained his second place, but lost out to the Toyota driver after his final pit-stop and had to settle for third.

In the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton ongoing from 17th on the grid, and managed to finish on the podium in third place.

The finale to the 2009 F1 calendar was at the newly built Abu Dhabi Circuit. Hamilton was quick throughout the practice sessions and qualified on pole, 6 tenths of a second quicker than Sebastian Vettel who sat in 2nd on the grid. Hamilton was looking strong to win the race, but retired on lap 20 due to a rear brake problem.